These days, numerous users have an audio or audiovisual document reproduction device in their homes. These documents are generally stored in digital form, either in the device itself, for example in the hard disk, or in the local network of the residence, or again in a database that can be accessed via a public network such as Internet. The documents are associated with descriptive data enabling them to be characterized. These descriptive data generally called “attributes” are extracted from a list of classification elements. The descriptive data are for example defined according to the MPEG7 standard. In this way, the user can introduce one or more attributes and launch a search for documents that possess these attributes. In the case of a video document, it is divided into shots by the producer, attribute values are also associated with each shot. It is thus possible to generate document summaries by selecting shots having given characteristics, for example the same actor.
Currently, reproduction devices have a storage memory with a large capacity in order to memorize documents of different natures: videos, audio, still pictures, and these in high numbers. To access these documents, the user has an interface ensuring the displaying and the navigation in the set of recorded documents. The document identifiers appear on a screen, the user can select them in order to launch their reproduction. The identifiers appear in lists incorporated in menus. The identifiers can be the title, or an image, or any other element that can be displayed that is representative of the document. The visual identifiers can be video extracts, a photo of the performer of an audio document, a part of a photo, a specific graphic, the jacket of a film, etc. The identifier can also be a particular graphic associated with the document by the producer, or manually associated by the user himself.
Navigation within a large number of documents requires an advanced and efficient interface. For example, the application FR07/54076 published 3 Oct. 2008 and deposed by the applicant, defines a menu where document identifiers are placed that are connected together by graphic paths. A reproduction device equipped with such a device is for example a PVR (Personal Video Recorder). A PVR is a device equipped with a hard disk, a display means, and a means for command introduction. Commands can be introduced using a remote control, or using a cursor selecting icons, or by voice recognition. The user interface enables access to audio, photo or even mixed libraries, with different items of equipment being able to be closer to a personal computer. This interface applies in the case of documents that are distinct and that are not linked by a chronology.
The document US 2004/0263529—OKADA published 30 Dec. 2004 describes a document analysis menu. The thumbnails of sequences of the document are presented horizontally according to time. The user introduces a keyword and the system will find the sequences having a relation with this keyword. The degree of similarity of each sequence with this keyword is evaluated and the sequence thumbnails are positioned vertically according to this similarity. The user can then change the degree of similarity by vertically displacing the thumbnails if he considers that the degree calculated is erroneous. In this way, the user can select certain sequences more or less close to a criterion and place them into a summary.
The document WO 2008/035022 describes the realization of several documents taken by several sources (cameras) during a same event. The documents are divided into sequences and are presented chronologically. Thumbnails enable the category of documents to be changed and thus the list of identifiers to be changed. When the menu presenting chronologically the identifiers is displayed, the user can select the sequences of each source and thus compose a document from several sources.